“Paradise,” the soaring current single (click here to download), boasts such a hip-hop boom that you halfway expect Jay-Z to drop a verse on it. Rihanna actually does turn up on the synth-infused “Princess of China,” making a moody match for Chris Martin.

Elsewhere, “Hurts Like Heaven” has a blissful bounce that finds ’80s-pop nirvana.

Still – along this (vaguely) conceptual journey about two lost souls – there are classic Coldplay ballads such as “Us Against the World,” helping to ensure that global domination will continue.

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